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2013 Indycar Thread

Welp... Since the racing season is upon us with Daytona kicking things off soon I guess it's time to think about Indycar. And what more perfect way than to learn that TGBB is gaining more power with the new regime.

INDYCAR: Barnhartís Role Evolving, Expanding

Speculation regarding Brian Barnhart's future within the IZOD IndyCar Series has taken on a life of its own in recent weeks, and while the former series president will see his duties expand this season, it will not, as some have suggested, include leading the open-wheel organization from the top.

ďBrian continues to be an executive member of INDYCAR and his understanding of our sport continues to provide our organization with valuable input," read a statement supplied by the series. "However, Brianís future role with INDYCAR will not be as CEO of the organization.Ē

Barnhart will, however, play a greater role within INDYCAR's competition department.

The longtime series employee held the position of President of Competition and Racing Operations through the 2011 season, but under the direction of former series CEO Randy Bernard, saw most of his power and authority stripped heading into 2012.

With Bernard no longer involved with the series, Barnhart has been utilized in a more meaningful capacity and that trend is expected to continue as he is tasked with greater responsibilities in the competition department.

Barnhart earned high marks from IndyCar teams for handling the spare parts price saga, and also lent his experience to a number of internal projects, including the recent Leader Circle payout structure.

Although Barnhart's exact duties within the series' new management structure are still somewhat undefined, it's known he will take more of an overarching position on competition-related decisions within the IndyCar offices.

I'm told that Barnhart, who also served as INDYCARís Race Director through 2011, will not influence on-track activities during race weekends, meaning current Race Director Beaux Barfield and his team of stewards will continue to act autonomously.

OK... Here's my take:
What are they thinking?????????
The series is trying to climb out of a hole and reconnect with fans and find new fans. Fans rejoiced when TGBB was moved aside last season. About the only problem IMO is he was left connected at all. Even if Indycar thought the fans were wrong about him, it's not like he's the key to open wheel racing in America. So why give him any responsibility and rub fans' noses in the fact that he's still here?

Oh well... I can't imagine the Hulman-George family selling the speedway... But I'm convinced more and more that is what needs to happen to really move forward.

Nuntius was right. I was wrong. Frank Vogel has retained his job.

------

"A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, thatís teamwork."

Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-tr...nce-stephenson
"But, first, let us now praise famous moments, because something happened Tuesday night in Indianapolis that you can watch a lifetimeís worth of professional basketball and never see again. There was a brief, and very decisive, and altogether unprecedented, outburst of genuine officiating, and it was directed at the best player in the world, and that, my dear young person, simply is not done."

Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

I saw that the other day and wasn't sure what to make of it. I don't know know where things are contractually but from a driver talent standpoint wouldn't this be a net gain for Indycar? I'd think Bourdais and Saavedra are both legitimate threats to win this season. I'm not sure I'd put Legge in the threat to win category.

Of course on the 'move the needle with the public meter'... it's nothing. It's not an intl superstar driver, a supermodel coming to racing, a Nascar driving moving to Indy, or a grassroots young American kid who can drive anything with an engine skipping Cup and coming to Indy.

Last edited by Bball; 02-14-2013 at 02:02 PM.

Nuntius was right. I was wrong. Frank Vogel has retained his job.

------

"A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, thatís teamwork."

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Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

No. She isn't. But, it makes me sick that they can be so blatant about breaking contracts. Saavedra is a good driver. I'm sure that it's a money deal.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-tr...nce-stephenson
"But, first, let us now praise famous moments, because something happened Tuesday night in Indianapolis that you can watch a lifetimeís worth of professional basketball and never see again. There was a brief, and very decisive, and altogether unprecedented, outburst of genuine officiating, and it was directed at the best player in the world, and that, my dear young person, simply is not done."

Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

No. She isn't. But, it makes me sick that they can be so blatant about breaking contracts. Saavedra is a good driver. I'm sure that it's a money deal.

True, but in this case didn't Legge's sponsor jump ship to another driver... or was it always Jay Penske's sponsor and Legge just the benefactor?

Of course in the backroom I could easily see a driver who had brought new sponsorship to a team thus securing a ride/spot on the team, and then the team so hellbent on that next step they go into backroom negotiations to steal their own driver's sponsor away for another driver who brings more talent.. .and possibly even more money/sponsorship.....

Nuntius was right. I was wrong. Frank Vogel has retained his job.

------

"A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, thatís teamwork."

Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

Of course in the backroom I could easily see a driver who had brought new sponsorship to a team thus securing a ride/spot on the team, and then the team so hellbent on that next step they go into backroom negotiations to steal their own driver's sponsor away for another driver who brings more talent.. .and possibly even more money/sponsorship.....

99 percent of the time it's this...

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-tr...nce-stephenson
"But, first, let us now praise famous moments, because something happened Tuesday night in Indianapolis that you can watch a lifetimeís worth of professional basketball and never see again. There was a brief, and very decisive, and altogether unprecedented, outburst of genuine officiating, and it was directed at the best player in the world, and that, my dear young person, simply is not done."

Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-tr...nce-stephenson
"But, first, let us now praise famous moments, because something happened Tuesday night in Indianapolis that you can watch a lifetimeís worth of professional basketball and never see again. There was a brief, and very decisive, and altogether unprecedented, outburst of genuine officiating, and it was directed at the best player in the world, and that, my dear young person, simply is not done."

Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-tr...nce-stephenson
"But, first, let us now praise famous moments, because something happened Tuesday night in Indianapolis that you can watch a lifetimeís worth of professional basketball and never see again. There was a brief, and very decisive, and altogether unprecedented, outburst of genuine officiating, and it was directed at the best player in the world, and that, my dear young person, simply is not done."

Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

...And Nascar comes awfully close to putting a car thru the fence today. Poles broken, hole in fence, and engine and front wheel(s) on the fan side of the fence. ...Waiting to hear if there were any injuries in the stands.

Nuntius was right. I was wrong. Frank Vogel has retained his job.

------

"A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, thatís teamwork."

The Following User Says Thank You to Bball For This Useful Post:

Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

Ok... Looking like it could be serious. For all of the TV commentator's talk about the fence doing it's job the word is there are several injuries (no idea about severity) and clearly pieces of the wreck didn't just stop at the wall.

Nuntius was right. I was wrong. Frank Vogel has retained his job.

------

"A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, thatís teamwork."

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Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

Yes... Deadspin has that same footage in hidef.http://deadspin.com/5986464/todays-n...alf?tag=nascar
A couple of things I noted.... There's a cameraman setup within inches of where the car impacted the fence. His videocamera is shown toppled and not healthy in a photo I saw. I hope he got lucky.

Also, I'm not sure what we see exactly at the fence before the wreck. It looks like there is a section made to remove or is hinged maybe. The car seems to have maybe hit that part perfectly. That could've been a weaker section of the fence that took the full force of the car.

ESPN did an absolutely horrendous job of covering this. Especially initially. Talk about putting their heads in the sand. They totally deferred to letting Nascar tell them whatever Nascar wanted to tell them rather than sending a cameraman and a reporter over there and seeing for themselves what had happened.

The catchfence at racetracks needs to remain in the discussion. Indycar has had it's share of near misses (not to mention things getting over the top of the fence). The majority have happened in sections with no fans. And Nascar has came awfully close to putting a car in the seats for sometime now.

Nuntius was right. I was wrong. Frank Vogel has retained his job.

------

"A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, thatís teamwork."

The Following User Says Thank You to Bball For This Useful Post:

Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

Larson's car hit the spectator gate that allows the masses to access the track after the race. It's gone now, they removed it overnight. That tire, A arm and brake assembly came over the fence. The rest of it (Motor, other tire) came to rest just inside the crash wall. Thank God. Though, some woman claimed that the motor hit her on the legs. I doubt that or she'd have crushed or no legs. I really thought that they had spit that motor up into the stands. There was enough water, oil, fiberglass and miscellaneous metal going up there as it was. Wheel tethers would not have helped that since the entire front doghouse was torn off.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-tr...nce-stephenson
"But, first, let us now praise famous moments, because something happened Tuesday night in Indianapolis that you can watch a lifetimeís worth of professional basketball and never see again. There was a brief, and very decisive, and altogether unprecedented, outburst of genuine officiating, and it was directed at the best player in the world, and that, my dear young person, simply is not done."

Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

OMG am I glad Danica is gone from Indycar! Watching Daytona today was painful with all the Danica mentions, in car shots, her radio, etc.. And when 'go' time came, back she went.

Soooo the first interview after the race? 8th place finisher Danica Patrick. Not a couple of the little teams that did well and could use the exposure... Not a top 3 finisher. Not someone that made a big leap in the last couple of laps. Not someone involved in that last lap wreck. Danica Patrick.

That sh-t will not sit well very long with other teams, other sponsors, other drivers, and diehards. All she does is soak limelight away from people who actually deserve the accolades and that is NOT good for the sport (because accolades =exposure and exposure is what drives sponsors to the sport). It might seem good short term, but it's not IMHO when people start to realize she's getting the spotlight away from deserving drivers over the long haul.

Danica Patrick was not winning this race today as long as it finished under green. Go time for Danica means go backwards...

Nuntius was right. I was wrong. Frank Vogel has retained his job.

------

"A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, thatís teamwork."

The Following User Says Thank You to Bball For This Useful Post:

Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

It's a miracle nobody was killed yesterday, at the same time it brings back the ignorant comments Jimmeh Johnson said about Indycar after Las Vegas. NASCAR needs to thank their lucky stripes that everyone will eventually be able to walk away, I'd shudder to think what would have happened otherwise.

"Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

"And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "
Want your own "Just Say No to Kamen" from @mkroeger pic? http://twitpic.com/a3hmca

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Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

I her defense, and it will probably be the last time I defend her, she did get hung out there behind Biffle when everybody went and left him in the middle. If she would have tried to go, she'd have been at the back of the lead pack because they would have left her out to dry.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-tr...nce-stephenson
"But, first, let us now praise famous moments, because something happened Tuesday night in Indianapolis that you can watch a lifetimeís worth of professional basketball and never see again. There was a brief, and very decisive, and altogether unprecedented, outburst of genuine officiating, and it was directed at the best player in the world, and that, my dear young person, simply is not done."

Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

I her defense, and it will probably be the last time I defend her, she did get hung out there behind Biffle when everybody went and left him in the middle. If she would have tried to go, she'd have been at the back of the lead pack because they would have left her out to dry.

I thought when it was obvious Biffle was hanging with the Fords and there was a freight train coming on her left side led by Jimmie Johnson in his Chevy that the smart thing to do was drop down in that line while there was still a big but quickly closing gap. Possibly bringing the car (88) behind her who could see she was actually making a move to try and win and get to the front in the waning laps. But she didn't. Drivers need to know who's going to the front because you don't want to partner with a driver content to just finish in the top ten or so. And so she did what she always does... went backwards at go time.

Last edited by Bball; 02-25-2013 at 01:55 AM.

Nuntius was right. I was wrong. Frank Vogel has retained his job.

------

"A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, thatís teamwork."

Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

She's tentative. That's for sure.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-tr...nce-stephenson
"But, first, let us now praise famous moments, because something happened Tuesday night in Indianapolis that you can watch a lifetimeís worth of professional basketball and never see again. There was a brief, and very decisive, and altogether unprecedented, outburst of genuine officiating, and it was directed at the best player in the world, and that, my dear young person, simply is not done."

Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

OMG am I glad Danica is gone from Indycar! Watching Daytona today was painful with all the Danica mentions, in car shots, her radio, etc.. And when 'go' time came, back she went.

Soooo the first interview after the race? 8th place finisher Danica Patrick. Not a couple of the little teams that did well and could use the exposure... Not a top 3 finisher. Not someone that made a big leap in the last couple of laps. Not someone involved in that last lap wreck. Danica Patrick.

That sh-t will not sit well very long with other teams, other sponsors, other drivers, and diehards. All she does is soak limelight away from people who actually deserve the accolades and that is NOT good for the sport (because accolades =exposure and exposure is what drives sponsors to the sport). It might seem good short term, but it's not IMHO when people start to realize she's getting the spotlight away from deserving drivers over the long haul.

Danica Patrick was not winning this race today as long as it finished under green. Go time for Danica means go backwards...

Wait a second, so you mean to tell me that there was actually a winner of the race yesterday? Wouldn't know it with all of the Danica hype. Because of the Danica hype, one misses the fact that one of the greatest NASCAR drivers ever actually won the race yesterday.

The Indy Danica hype initially didn't bother me because I thought that ANY hype was good back then if it brought attention to the Indy 500, even if it was something as tiring as Danica mania. Danica's first 500 where she led some laps made the race a national news story, which I thought was great. The race had fallen out of the national conscience, so any publicity aside from horrible wrecks was a good thing. But there's no doubt that the Danica mania got very old as time went on, for the reasons you listed above.

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Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

As an Indycar fan, I can understand being upset about the coverage that Danica is getting, and will continue to get. But there is no denying her effect. A 30% bump in ratings for Daytona from 2012 to 2013 is no accident.

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Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

Indycar won't miss her at all... She's been gone a year already and it had no affect. Indycar fans gave up caring and tired of her and the sideshow. Bandwagon fans of Princess Sparkle Pony had already moved on. It was probably a smart move to go to Nascar when she did. Now, IF she'd come back to the 500 then she might bring some new eyeballs over from Nascar.... But I'd prefer she stay away anyway.

Put Kyle Larson in an Indycar instead...

(which of course won't happen)

EDIT: Wait... Didn't Danica run Daytona as part of her limited Cup schedule last year? I'm sure she did?? Don't forget Nascar and the media pumped the Gen 6 cars PLUS had to have some curiosity created with the wreck/injuries/national news from the Nationwide race on Saturday. I don't see how a bump in this year's ratings could be attributed to Princess Sparkle Pony if she was there last year already.

EDIT #2: Although I'd be curious to hear whether the Go Daddy $$$ are anywhere near the same for Andretti without her. He may miss the $$$$. Then again, without her they won the championship too...

Last edited by Bball; 02-25-2013 at 02:16 PM.

Nuntius was right. I was wrong. Frank Vogel has retained his job.

------

"A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, thatís teamwork."

Re: 2013 Indycar Thread

Indycar won't miss her at all... She's been gone a year already and it had no affect. Indycar fans gave up caring and tired of her and the sideshow. Bandwagon fans of Princess Sparkle Pony had already moved on. It was probably a smart move to go to Nascar when she did. Now, IF she'd come back to the 500 then she might bring some new eyeballs over from Nascar.... But I'd prefer she stay away anyway.

Put Kyle Larson in an Indycar instead...

(which of course won't happen)

EDIT: Wait... Didn't Danica run Daytona as part of her limited Cup schedule last year? I'm sure she did?? Don't forget Nascar and the media pumped the Gen 6 cars PLUS had to have some curiosity created with the wreck/injuries/national news from the Nationwide race on Saturday. I don't see how a bump in this year's ratings could be attributed to Princess Sparkle Pony if she was there last year already.

EDIT #2: Although I'd be curious to hear whether the Go Daddy $$$ are anywhere near the same for Andretti without her. He may miss the $$$$. Then again, without her they won the championship too...

How much extra publicity did they get from her being on the pole? It seemed like it was constant.

I love Indy, and I'm not a Nascar fan at all, but I watched the start and finish, mainly because Danica was in contention. I'm guessing I wasn't the only one.